Source: Http:financeequityloans.comCategory: Student LoansArticle Body: Student Loan Refinancing Was Not Something I Thought Of Upon Receiving My Masters Degree. I Thought Only, Finally Im Finished With 50-page Papers! However, At Age 29, I Wanted To Move Permanently To Estes Park, Colorado. Enamored With Rocky Mountain National Park And With The High Desert Climate, I Wanted To Buy A Cabin In The Woods.Unfortunately, I Owed Money, A Lot Of It. After Graduate School My Loans Totaled 24,000, Which Doesnt Seem Like A Lot To Folks Who Go To Med School, But To Someone Such As Me, Who Was Used To Living On The Road, Making Less Than 20,000 Per Year, 24,000 Seemed Astronomical. To Make Matters Worse, My Loan Payments Were Hundreds And Hundreds Of Dollars. There Was No Way I Could Pay A Mortgage With My Monthly Payments.So I Did Some Research, Talked With A Bunch Of People, And Found Out That I Actually Could Do Something About My Situation. These Words Came Up Over And Over Again: Student Loan Refinance. Why Not Try It At Least? It Couldnt Be That Difficult. It Wasnt That Difficult, Although It Was Definitely Time Consuming, And I Had To Do Extensive Research To Really Find Out The Good Deals. I Found A Number Of Websites, Including Http:www.studentdoc.comrefinance-student-loans.html, Which Notified Me That The Main Goal Of Refinancing Is Usually To Reduce Your Monthly Student Loan Payments. Exactly What I Needed.As The Site States, Its Always Better To Start With Good Credit, So If You Dont Have Good Credit, Work On That First. I Checked With The Credit Bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax, And Experian And Discovered That Although I Didnt Have Great Credit (mostly Because I Never Had A Credit Card), I Didnt Have Bad Credit Either. I Was In Good Shape To Get A Fairly Decent, Low Rate.The Next Step I Took Was Finding A Lender That Specialized In Student Loan Refinancing. Www.studentdoc.com Recommends A Number Of Sites. I Ended Up With The National Education Loan Network (a.k.a. Nelnet), Which I Used To Reduce My Monthly Payment In Three Ways: I Got A Lower Interest Rate To Lower My Long-term Student Debt, I Consolidated Two School Loans That I Had, And I Extended The Duration Of My Loan. I Also Took Advantage Of A Special Offer To Have The Money Taken Directly Out Of My Checking Account, Which Lowered My Interest Rate Even Further.Although It Took A Few Months To Get Everything In Order, The Outcome Worked To My Advantage. I Ended Up With 123.50-per-month Payments, Which Is Entirely Reasonable. These Low Payments Enabled Me To Save Quite A Bit Of Money Each Month. Ill Be Paying My Loans Off For Longer-about 20 Years; Ive Got 17 Left-but I Finally Was Able To Save Enough Money Up To Buy A Home And Not Worry Too Much About My Mortgage Payments.Granted, I Did Get Lucky. I Consolidated My Loans Before July, 2006, At Which Time The Consolidation Rates Jumped A Few Percentage Points To Match The Current Market Rates (which Rose Significantly And Steadily Last Year). However, Its Still Very Possible To Lower Your Loan Payments.
